Clipp, Store, and Burn: The Nats New Closing Trio (Plus a Farewell to the Capper)

(Photo Courtesy: Notes from NatsTown)

Late in the evening on June 29, 2010, the Nationals traded their lone 2010 All-Star, closer Matt Capps, to the Minnesota Twins. The Nationals picked up Capps before the season from Pittsburgh after posting an inadequate 5.80 ERA in 2009 and earning only 27 saves. Capps earned 26 with Washington with more than 2 months left in the season. He also posted a fantastic 2.80 ERA.

In exchange for Capps, the Nats received top catching prospect Wilson Ramos and a left handed minor league reliever, Joe Testa. The move to trade Capps for a guy like Ramos indicates that Jesus Flores' recovery may have stalled indefinitely after 2 years of attempted recovery from injury and an acknowledgement that Pudge Rodriguez is 38 years old.

Early Friday morning, MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported that Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen, and Sean Burnett would split the closers role. So I propose a new name for the trio: Clipp, Store, and Burn. Different than good old Clipp 'n Save, but it'll work.

The Nationals and their fans will miss Capps' mild demeanor off the field and his intro music ("The Final Countdown") combined with his electric personality on the field. Capps will will join former Nats reliever Jon Rauch in the bullpen in the Twin Cities. Rauch has filled in admirably for the Twins injured closer Joe Nathan, securing 21 saves in 25 attempts. With Rauch setting up and a nearly automatic Capps closing, the Twins hope to push ahead of the the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. As of Thursday, the Twins are 1.5 games back at 56-46.

Matt Capps has never played for a team that ended the season with a winning record. He's played for Pittsburgh, who hasn't had a winning season in 17 years, and for Washington who is on pace to lose just under 300 games between 2008-2010. Like the rest of NatsTown, I wish Capps the best in the Upper Midwest.

On Friday, Roy Oswalt and his new team, the Philadelphia Phillies, come to DC to face Craig Stammen and the Nats, so it seems unlikely that new new closer(s) will get an opportunity for a save. But that bullpen all of a sudden feels a bit more empty without Matt Capps. Get ready for Clipp, Store, and Burn.

Tip Your Caps to Capps

As we prepare for the All-Star Game this evening, it only seems fitting that a Nats blog should write about the Nats only ASG representative: Matt Capps.

This season Capps has the 3rd most saves in the NL (23) and has been basically automatic in every appearance. He has a tendency to give you a mild heart murmur every once in a while, but he's blown only 4 saves all season.

If you look back at Capps' career, it's obvious that this season is by far his best ever. The only time he's had more than 23 saves in a full season was last year with Pittsburgh. He had 27 all year in 2009 and posted an atrocious 5.80 ERA. It's safe to say that Capps will exceed that level in 2010. But will it be with the Washington Nationals?

It's hard to tell what the Nats front office thinks about this idea at this point, since most trade rumors are focusing on Dunn and Willingham. But Matt Capps' trade value will never be higher than it is today. He's an All-Star for the first time in his career, he's sporting an ERA just over 3.00. He's pitching with purpose as a guy who was dumped by the team that drafted him.

With any contender that is interested in Capps, he would almost certainly not be a closer barring a late season injury to that team's closer. He is a closer with the Nats because they needed someone to hold a place for Drew Storen. With another organization, he could be an above average setup guy that helps take a team deep into the post-season. The Nats shouldn't balk at this opportunity, especially if they're able to land another strong pitcher. The problem is, contenders aren't going to be willing to trade away a strong player in return for Capps.

So what say you, Capitol Baseballers? Is it time to pass the torch to Storen this year since the Nats aren't playoff bound? Should they hold on to Capps as the closer of the near future and leave Storen to that task in a few years?

I tend to think you get whatever you can for him, even though I really like him, because his numbers show he may be far outperforming what he is actually capable of. I await your comments, and enjoy the festivities tonight!

Time for Clipp and Store(n)

Everyone in NatsTown has been talking about "Clipp and Save" or some variation of that when talking about Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps closing games up for the Nats. All season, Clippard has been pitching gem after gem, and so was Capps... until May 23rd.

Clippard stayed great. Clippard has gotten 5 holds since May 19th and hasn't blown a save or gotten a loss since that day. In 10 2/3 innings in his last 9 appearances, Tyler Clippard hasn't given up a single run and has only given up 4 hits. He has been electric.

Matt Capps is a different disappointing story. Capps has only gotten 2 saves since May 23rd. In the same time period, he's also blown 4 saves and gotten 2 losses. Capps has watched his ERA skyrocket from 2.11 on May 19th to 3.62 today. Meanwhile, in the same period of time since May 19th, Clippard's ERA has dropped from 2.22 to 1.66. Clippard has earned and re-solidified his spot in the bullpen as the set up guy, but Capps should take a seat to give Drew Storen a shot at saving some games.

After all, that's why the Nats signed Storen 10th overall in the 2009 draft behind Strasburg. Storen has too few appearances for these stats to mean a whole lot, but here it goes anyways. In his only 10 appearances this season, he is 1-0 with 3 holds and a 1.93 ERA. He's given up 2 runs on only 6 hits in those 9 2/3 innings pitched. Oh, and he's batting 1.000. (1 for 1... even though it doesn't matter much for a closer especially.)

The Nats are in a funk, losing 5 of their last 6, including 3 of 4 to the NL-worst Houston Astros. Washington's season is falling away from them, and they're at risk of losing it entirely if some fixes aren't made. The starters have been respectable, and the bullpen is starting to fall apart yet again. It's time to fix the most glaring problem now; the fact that the team's closer cannot close a game when the starter puts him in the position to do so. It's time to give someone a chance to save a game besides Matt Capps. Bring on Clipp & Store(n).

Nats Take Game 1 from NL-leading Padres

Well, after a weird start to Game 1 against San Diego, John Lannan had a great outing for a 5-3 win. When Padres Manager Bud Black submitted his lineup card on Friday evening, he listed Adam Russell as the starting pitcher. The problem with that? Well Adam Russell had just been sent down to AAA Portland earlier in the day. It was Clayton Richard who was supposed to get the start. The Nats officially protested the game; the umpires accepted, which meant if the Nats had lost, the league would have reviewed the game.

It wasn't a problem though, largely because of a 7 inning outing for the Nats starter Lannan, now 2-2. It was the first time any Nats starter had gone 7 or more innings since May 9th. On Friday, Lannan got 12 ground ball outs on only 88 pitches and 1 earned run. Good old fashioned Lannan ball. The Nats are surely thrilled to have the old-school New Yorker back. The Nats are now 23-0 when leading after 8 innings. That's a stat that you like to see from your team. Here's the breakdown:

The offense was almost non-existent for either team until the top of the 4th when Josh Willingham crushed a 3-run homer to deep center field off Clayton Richard (the actual starter). In the top of the 7th, with Richard still pitching, Ian Desmond went deep to left for his 4th HR on the year. This put the Nats up 4-1, and the Nats never looked back... almost.

In the bottom of the 7th, the first base ump missed a call on what almost became a crucial play in the game. Adam Dunn clearly tagged out Oscar Salazar in a not-so-close play at first. The Nats should have had their first out there. That play translated into a run for San Diego, making the game 4-2.

In the 8th, Clippard came in and looked great. His fastball was dancing all over. The kid needed some time off, which he's gotten lately. Unfortunately, it's because the Nats haven't been winning as many games, but Clippard looks like he's gotten enough rest to be effective here for a bit.

The Nats got a 5th run in the 9th after Adam Dunn laced a double to right center that would have been a home run in basically any other ball park. Adam Kennedy came in to pinch run, got moved over to 3rd, and Ian Desmond laid down a beautiful bunt for hit on a squeeze to score Kennedy, making the lead 5-2. Here's where the game got stressful.

Good ol' Matty Capps came in to attempt a save and looked a bit rattled to start once again, like he did in his first blown save of the game. He let a guy on first to start, and then Desmond, after a great game offensively, had 1 official error early in the game, and a costly non-error error in the 9th going for a spectacular play that got no outs with 2 men on base. Capps then continuously pitched away to Jerry Hairston, Jr. and allowed a slow rolling single, and the bases were loaded with no outs.

After he was put in this situation, Capps started to get squeezed. No strikes anywhere. So then Capps was forced to throw it over the plate for an RBI single, making the game 5-3 with the bases still loaded. Then Capps had to face the very dangerous (and significantly thinner) Matt Stairs. After leaving pitch after pitch up in the zone, Capps throws a breaking ball down the middle of the plate that Stairs just looked at, probably in awe that he had the audacity to throw it, for the 1st out. Then Capps struck out Venable for the 2nd out. To end the game, David Eckstein grounded out to Zimm. A good old fashioned Capps style save. Which he apologized for at the end of the game saying, "I'm sorry to make it interesting." Class act.

One bad note for the game, Maxwell looked terrible once more. He was swinging at bad pitches and never really made solid contact. He was (one more time) sent down to AAA Syracuse to make room for a pitcher, J.D. Martin, who will start today against the Padres in place of the injured Scott Olsen.

Bye Bye Mile High, Hello Drew Storen, & Good Riddance Brian Bruney

Well, this blogger has been calling for the Nats to fire RHP Brian Bruney since I started the blog. The Nats listened. Brian Bruney has been designated-for-assignment, so he'll likely be a free agent before long. Listening to his own inner-brilliance, Mike Rizzo has promoted RHP phenom Drew Storen, likely a few weeks before his "Super Two" date. So the Nats may lose some cash on him in the long run, but this shows that the club is looking to keep winning now, rather than looking to the future. That's exciting for someone who rarely misses a game.

Unfortunately, the Nats set the wrong kind of record this past weekend from Denver, although it was going to happen eventually. The team lost their 3rd consecutive game for the first time... all season. That's right, before the 3 consecutive losses to the Rockies in Colorado this past weekend, the Nats had not lost more than 2 games in a row in 2010. The Nats record has just plummeted to 20-18 (he says with juuuust a hint of sarcasm). I am still in awe of the Nats club that can lose 3 in a row, still be 2 games above .500 and be 3rd in the NL East.

A few thoughts on Brian Bruney are bulleted below, and why the Nats bullpen will be significantly better without him:

• He sucked a lot and here's the proof.
• This season as a reliever, Bruney had a disgusting 7.64 ERA in 19 games. In those 19 games, he gave up 18 runs on 21 hits and 20 walks. In 17 2/3 innings, he put 41 players on base.
• The Nats lost 12 of Bruney's 19 appearances. Although he didn't get many decisions, Bruney was often put in the game with the Nats down only a run or two, and put the game out of reach by giving up runs.
• Only twice in May did the Nats get a win on a Bruney appearance. In the final one as a National, the Nats were up 14-6.

To the big story, though, is Drew Storen's promotion to the Nats nearly 3 weeks before Stephen "the Messiah" Strasburg. This is great for the team, for Drew, and for Jesus for a few reasons bulleted below:

• Although Strasburg is the #1 prospect in the organization, Storen would certainly have been the #1 pitching prospect if it weren't for Baseball Jesus.
• He has been the antithesis of Bruney in the minors by sporting a 1.08 ERA in 16 2/3 innings with 15 Ks.
• Storen now gets the benefit of coming up early and getting the stories focused on him for a few weeks before Jesus takes over national baseball coverage. He earned this by signing literally the week the Nats drafted him. He deserves the spotlight becaues of talent, dedication, and loyalty.
• Strasburg will be happy to see his very young quasi-mentor in the minors get some well-deserved praise I'm sure.

Drew Storen is supposed to be the closer of the future for the Nats, although Matt Capps has fulfilled this role well this year. If Storen meets expections and is as great as advertised, Matt Capps may join Cristian Guzman on the trading block in July. However, if the team is still competing and the rest of the bullpen continues to under-produce, Capps may stay to close while Storen shares setup responsibilities with Clippard. And if nothing else, Clippard can give his violent delivery a rest a little more often to put off his inevitable surgery in the next few years.

I know I'll be closely monitoring the game today for a possible Storen appearance with Craig Stammen on the mound, who hasn't made it into the 6th inning in 2 of his last 3 starts. You know that Riggs will get Storen in there if he can.

Game 31: Nats take the Marlins and the series

The Nationals took the series from the Marlins today to go 17-14 for a 2nd place tie in the NL East with the Mets. The Nats travel to New York tonight for the start of a 9 game road trip. The Nats will take on those very Mets in 3 game series starting on Monday. That will tell a lot about where this early part of the season is going for the Nats, so watch closely.

Let's go a little with today's game against the Marlins. The Nats took an early lead, as they have done so often this season, in the 2nd inning with a sacrifice double play (weird to think of that, but it's possible) that scored Nyjer Morgan. They got another run in the 3rd with an Adam Dunn RBI single through the shift that scored Adam Kennedy from 2nd. Then Livan Hernandez, who had yet another simply amazing outing, gave up a solo home run to who else, but Hanley Ramirez. That was the only run that Livan gave up all day, bringing his ERA allll the way up to... 1.04. Wow. That's 2nd in the NL only to Ubaldo Jimenez. After 7 innings of 1 run, 5 hit ball, Livan called it a day after 110 pitches, 75 of them for strikes. Time to Clipp and Save, right? Well... maybe not so easy.

Tyler Clippard entered the game after Sean Burnett gave up a single in the top of the 8th. Then Clippard immediately gave up a single to Wes Helms and walked Hanley Ramirez to load the bases. With no outs. Clippard has gotten himself into this spot one too many times this year (see tomorrow morning's post for more on this), and his offense has bailed him out every, single time. Clippard ended up giving up a sac fly that tied the game 2-2 before he got himself out of the jam. But the Hammer was out to save the day.

Willingham came up in the bottom of the inning with 1 out and crushed a home run to left field into the wind, eventually giving the Nats the 3-2 win. Capps came in and had a painless 1, 2, 3 inning and got his MLB leading 13th save of the year, and the Nats moved to 3 games over .500 for the 2nd time this year. It was a great (although cold and windy) day for baseball in the city, and the team went 4-2 on the homestand. They hope to do the same thing on the road trip, but it will be difficult with a 3 game series with Mets (who are playing very good baseball right now), a 4 game series with the Rockies, and a 2 game series against the Cardinals. If the Nats can come out on top here, it's really going to speak volumes about where the club is going this season.

Game 27: Frustration and a Riggleman Error

Sorry for the extended delay between this post and last night's game. This blogger was coming off of a bad day at work, followed by a Philadelphia Flyers loss to put them down 3-0 to the Bruins, and a Nats near comeback win, with eventual disappointing loss to the Braves. I was in no place to blog without anger and rants. Let's go for it now, however.

The Luis Atilano and the Nats took on Tommy Hanson and the Braves for the 2nd of 3 in this series. I predicted weeks ago that Atilano would eventually have a disappointing night, because he's 24 years old and has only had 3 MLB starts. Well that night was last night. He threw 98 pitches in 5 1/3 innings, but he never got into a groove. He got out of a brief jam in the first, but after that he gave up runs in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th innings, and put 2 men on in the 6th before getting yanked by Manager Jim Riggleman. Sean Burnett replaced him and, to no real fault of his own with 2 men on with only 1 out and facing the top of the order, gave up an RBI hit and a sacrifice grounder to short stop. But when he left, the score was 4-4 and although those two runners on base were credited to Atilano, giving him 6 earned runs on the night, the Nats saved him in the 8th.

In the 8th, Desmond singled on an error and then Bernadina crushed a double for a runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out for pinch hitter Josh Willingham. The Hammer singled to left field and scored both Ian and Bernie to tie the game. In comes Matt Capps in the 9th for an inning, right? Wrong. In comes Matt Capps for an inning in the 9th, and then back for the 10th. This is where I question the Manager.

Jim Riggleman has done a brilliant job managing this club this year. He's always innings ahead of the game in his decisions and double switches, he uses his bench, and doesn't overuse his bullpen beyond what he needs to do. I understand bringing Capps in in the 9th to try and hold onto the game, although I think he would have been more useful once the club got a lead, because that's... his job. But I digress, Riggleman made a mistake last night. He doesn't make many, but this was a big, fat, massive one.

Riggs brought in his closer to pitch 2 innings, which is 1 inning beyond what Capps should have pitched in this situation. Cappy was 11 for 11 in saves this season and just came of receiving the Delivery Man of the Month for April. Now, Capps has a 1 in the L column, and for a closer, his mentality to pitching could now change. He's no longer perfect, and that tends to affect closers in a very negative way. This club hasn't had a real closer since Cordero in 2007, and you can't take advantage of when when you get him. So Riggs, you've been a great manager all year, but you've made your first mistake. Learn from it, and don't make it again.

Nats take first against Braves

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Cliff Owen

In last night's fantastic game between the Nationals and the Braves, there were a lot of contributors. So many, in fact, that MASN didn't show the Silver Elvis Wig winner last night. Any help from the blogosphere?

Well the Cuban Jedi Knight himself, Livan Hernandez, didn't have his best stuff or anywhere close this best outing of the year, but he got the win nonetheless. He threw 41 pitches in the first inning and 123 in only 5 1/3 innings (his shortest outing of the season by almost 2 full innings). As a matter of fact, in Livan's two shortest outings before this one (both 7 innings), he threw only 88 and 99 pitches. But somehow the offense and defense of the club stepped up, putting Livan at 4-1 for the year with a 0.99 ERA in 5 starts. Here is a great article on Livan and the Nats from Doug Glanville of ESPN.com from before last night's start.

Now let's talk about the defense, because wow. Zimmerman looked great, but come on. He's Ryan Zimmerman. He ALWAYS looks great on defense. He started the 5-4-3 game ending double play to give Matt Capps his 11th save of the year in 11 tries and continues his great run after winning the MLB Delivery Man of the Month for April. (And helping me stay in first in my fantasy league.) Adam Kennedy also had a great pick at first on that double play on a terrible throw from the AG (both of those players were defensive subs by Riggleman at the end).

The real story is Roger Bernadina. Roger dropped a routine fly ball in the first that turned into an unearned run that put the Braves up 1-0. But in the top of the third, with the Nats up 2-1 after a homer by the Hammer and an RBI single by Desmond, Bernadina went after a line drive to right by Troy Glaus with Chipper at 3rd base and 2 outs. Roger went completely horizontal, dove fully extended, to make the most remarkable catch I have seen all year (and it WAS SportsCenter's top play last night).

Photo Credit: Nats320 (What a great picture grab. Thanks!)

Then the bats caught fire once again. Last night featured home runs for Willingham to left, Desmond to center, and Dunn to right... WAY into right. Second deck scoreboard pavilion deep. The offense looked to be firing on all cylinders throughout the game. Desmond had an RBI single to give the Nats the lead in the 2nd, and the team never fell behind again. This team is resilient and so much fun to watch this season at 14-12 and in 3rd place in the East. The Nats will go for yet another series victory tonight with a win against the Braves. If they can win tonight or tomorrow, it would be their 5th series win of the year.

Oh, the bullpen: Game 22

Luis Atilano, now 2-0 in two CAREER MLB starts, had another strong start today, for the Nats 7th quality start in a row (Thanks Mark Zuckerman for the stat). He had a few hickups, but worked his way out of almost every single decision. However, the Nats bullpen once again give the team the shakes.

Brian Bruney enters the game and immediately puts 2 men on with no outs. Luckily, the Cubs continued to strand base runners, and Bruney got out of the inning unscathed. Tyler Clippard entered the game and, like Bruney, gave up a silly hit to Marlon Byrd on an 0-2 count w/ a fastball down the middle. He got himself out of that jam quickly, as a good set-up guy does.

Then it was Cappy time. Matt Capps entered the game and Desmond made a remarkable throw from short to get the (questionable) out. Then Capps K'd Lee. Then Ramirez popped out in foul territory to win the game. Capps is 10 for 10 in save opportunities and this ball club is 12-10, 2 game ABOVE .500, and has sole possession of 2nd place in the NL East. AHEAD of those damn Phillies. For the first time in a while, it feels good to be a Nats fan.

Finally, it's W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W, L, W, W. They broke the streak!

Nats Pitching Lets Team Drop Back to .500

Well, here we go again. The Nats first game at Wrigley last night was a cold one. The wind chill at times was literally freezing. Unfortunately, while the Nats bats were hitting well considering the wind blowing straight in from the outfield, it wasn't enough to beat Carlos Marmol, Carlos Silva, and the Cubs. Why? Pitching.

Yet again, John Lannan, the "ace" of the Nationals pitching rotation had a rough start and got better with time. I like Johnny quite a bit, for his personality and his resiliance. And I'd much rather have the New York kid have a rough first inning or two and still make it through 6 innings than the alternative of a strong 1 2/3 and a complete and utter breakdown after that. That said, only giving up 3 runs in 6 innings isn't the worst outing in the world, although John give up 5 walks. The wind was whipping around out there, but 5 BBs is an unacceptably high number from your starting pitcher; or any pitcher for that matter.

The breakdown really happens with the bullpen, as has been the consistent problem with the Nats for a few years now. While the bullpen is stronger this year with Capps, Clippard, and (kind of) Burnett, Brian Bruney (1-1) has been a Nationals bullpen disaster. Bruney has appeared in 10 games, and has walked at least one batter in all but 3 of them. One of them was a walk off bases loaded walk to end the game last night. On 4 pitches.

The Washington Nationals are paying Bruney $1.5 MILLION this year to be the "primary set up guy," although it's pretty easy to see why Tyler Clippard has actually taken over that role with his bottom basement 0.61 ERA and 19 Ks in 14 innings pitched. Clippard has shown more consistency and stamina in all of his outings. Clippard's paycheck? Just over the league minimum at $401,000.

The 2010 Nationals have proven that they are able to compete with the best of the best, when we get some sort of pitching (i.e. more than 5 innings from a starter and a bullpen performance where the "set-up" guy doesn't walk in the winning run) so maybe it's about time for the Lerner's and Mike Rizzo to find a way to get some consistent arms out in the 'pen to get this team competitive sooner rather than later.

Olsen, Clip, Capps & A Real Baseball Team (Game 19)

Sorry for the delay in post. I had a busy weekend of family and friends. Capitol Baseball did get to go to the Nats/Dodgers game on Sunday where the Nats got a good old 1-0 victory. When Scott Olsen entered the game, he got himself into an immediate jam and loaded the bases at the top of the first. After that, it was smooth sailing for Scotty (alliteration win).

Olsen threw 8 strikeouts, on lots of curve balls that made the Dodgers hitters look silly at times, in his 7 inning shutout win. The Nationals slim 1-0 victory did not come easy. Although Olsen pitched one of his best games in more than a season, two simply outstanding outfield catches may have saved the game. The Hammer had an amazing catch that saved what easily could have been an inside the park home run by the speedy Rafael Furcal if Willingham had missed that catch. Then Justin Maxwell, in his new found defensive prowess this season, had another huge catch, perhaps even more remarkable than Willingham's. James Loney was already on 2nd base and J. Max saved a guaranteed RBI and another runner in scoring position, which would have resulted in Capps' first blown save of the season.

Clippard looked as good as ever. He didn't disappoint in his outing, with a solid 1,2,3 inning in the 8th and adding a strikeout to his tally for 19 on the year. Hitters just can't seem to figure him out.

While Capitol Baseball was hoping to see that crazy Capps knuckleball that Adam Dunn spoke of on Friday night, it wasn't necessary. Matt pitched his brand of nervous closer baseball, see how many solid drives you could have with runners in scoring position without blowing the game. Well, Cappy didn't blow the game, he got the save (8 for 8 on the year), and the Nats got the win on 1 run in the 1st inning.

This early in the game offense that the Nationals have established has been simply fantastic. Exciting to watch. It's not always a come back win, and with the quality of our bullpen, Clippard and Capps in particular, even if the club is ahead by only 1 run, there is a sense in the stands that the team can hold the lead and get the win. That's what happens when your Washington Nationals are 10-9 and tied for 2nd place in the NL East with the Marlins and the Mets.

Matt Capps' Knuckleball

Adam Dunn revealed after Friday night's game that Matt Capps has a great knuckleball, and he took some BP against him before facing the Dodgers' knuckler Charlie Haeger. The result: 2 HR and 3 RBI. Let me just ask, who wouldn't LOVE to see Matt Capps in the game, up by 2 runs, bottom 9, 0-1 pitch, and serve up a floating knuckleball?